What About Love? The Color Purple: Love Story 💜 (Taraji & Fantasia)

Chapter 5: Secret #1

Fantasia's POV

I should go check on my friend. She needs me right now. I usually am the one to comfort her on set when things get bumpy.
I've seemed to be the only one who can calm her down in moments like this where she's visibly upset and overwhelmed.
That's just been a part of our special bond.

As soon as I go to get up, Mr.Blitz redirects me.

"Fantasia, we still need to go over the next scene and read the new script." A frown creeps across my face and Danielle notices.

"I'll go check on her." She leans in and speaks lowly beside me.

As much as I wanted to be the one to keep her company, I trust Danielle and I know she's going to support Taraji just as well as I could.
We part ways and I go with the crew.

Taraji's POV

I think that might be Tasia at the door. Shit, why am I always breaking down in front of her?

I wipe my eyes quickly, put my shades back on and go to grab a tissue. "One second!" I call out. I blow my nose in a hurry and look at my reflection in the mirror. "Bitch, you look a hot mess.." I mumble under my breath before walking towards the door. I exhale deeply before swinging it open.

To my suprise, it's actually Danielle.
In a way, I'm disappointed Fantasia didn't come check on me.

"Hey girl, you good? Can I come inside to talk?" Danielle inquires genuinely.

"Of course. Come. Come in" I close the door behind her and we both sit on the chair and couch. I lean back trying to find my calm.

"Taraji..." she starts.. "Words can't express how grateful we all are for you and your voice. You stand up for us when nobody else does. You aren't afraid to fight for what's right and fair. I hope you know how much we love you..."

"Hmmph." I shrug. I don't really feel the love. I feel like I'm just shouting into the void most of the time. But that was just the icing on the cake for me...no kissing scene in a queer movie? Makes no damn sense to me." I start getting worked up again.

"I hear you. I truly do. Maybe we can start some type of petition or somethin'. It ain't right but I'm fighting with you." Danielle reassures.
I believe her.

I soften my brow. "Where's Tasia? Why didn't she come back here with you?"

"She wanted to, but Blitz said she had to go finish running her lines. She seemed disappointed about it...matter of fact, she seemed kinda down all morning, I'm not sure why."

I feel that sinking feeling return in the pit of my stomach and I swallow air because of how dry my mouth became. I stared straight ahead before I started speaking. "Yeah...she did seem off and she was a little upset when she left my house the lastnight..." I murmured without thinking too much about it, not realizing I'd just opened up a can of worms.

"Lastnight? Y'all went out and ain't invite me!? Y'all so fake!" Danielle jokes.

"We will make it up to you, promise." I chuckle. "But, no no, she..well, she just came over to my house so we could work on our lines and I helped her with some grounding in her character..that's all." I brush it off in hopes Danielle will change the subject.

She didn't.

"Okay, okay. That sounds nice. But why would she leave upset because of that?" Danielle raises her eyebrow with curiosity, a slight suspicion in her voice.

I take a long pause and think to myself. What do I even tell her? Me and Fantasia made out on my couch? It seemed like we were heading towards having sex? What if this somehow gets out? So many questions rush through my mind.
I wanna be honest, even if the truth hurts.

I grab one of Danielle's hands and turn towards her. "Okay. I'm gonna be honest with you. But first, please promise me this will stay between us? This is our secret. Promise." I command. 

Danielle straightens up. She looks concerned.

"I promise. Of course. Is Fantasia okay?"

I nod. "She's fine, she just wanted my help with separating her feelings from her characters feelings. I didn't think it would turn into anything too deep. So we decided to run a couple of our lines and do our kissing scene since she has a harder time separating herself from the more intimate and emotional scenes...and so we we, did that and it started off good. But then..somewhere in it..we both got lost. We lost our characters. And it went too far.."

I trail off into a memory of how I felt lastnight. The flashback feels so real as I say it outloud. Although Danielle can't see my eyes, I can see hers and I can tell it hasn't fully clicked yet.

"When you say it "went too far" what do you mean by that exactly? You got me on the edge of my seat being all encrypted.." she slides forward and places her elbows on her knees.

I continue and keep my voice low "So what I mean is that, we got lost, in the the kissing scene. We went off script and we just..kept going. We would've just kept going if I didn't stop it. It would've led to even more and I know better than anyone, you can't mix business with pleasure. Tasia is my sister, I'd never wanna hurt her or take advantage of her. I'm just so confused by how I feel now.." I sniffle and feel my eyes swell up with tears again. Danielle hands me a tissue. Her face looks puzzled as she puts it all together.

"Wow. So, you two got caught up in the moment and the emotions in the kissing scene. Do you feel like...you have feelings for her? Or is it more like...you just feel connected because of the characters?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I honestly, couldn't tell you. Maybe..both? I'm not sure anymore, but I feel something growing & it doesn't feel platonic."

I huff. "I've always been so sure of myself Danielle. But this is something that has had me stuck. I think Fantasia is just as confused and that's why she left my house upset. When I stopped it, I just brushed it off as acting but I think we both knew we wasn't acting anymore. That kiss was real."

"T, I'm sorry you're feeling confused. Maybe you should talk to Fantasia about it and clear the air? You two do have to act together, so it's worth at least just talking about it and finding some type of middle ground or closure." Danielle tries to support and places her hand on my knee.

I wipe my nose with my tissues. "You're right Dani. I'll just talk to her and maybe I'll feel better as a little less confused.."

We both stand and hug.

"I love you boo. Thank you for sharing that with me. I promise I'll be here whatever happens. Please don't walk away from this production. You & Fantasia will sort this out." Danielle soothes.

"I love you too." Is all I say before she sees herself out of the dressing room.

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